Dr Strange's Apprentice
by Stark Fan
Summary: There is only a few people who have managed to get around Dr. Strange's emotional defenses and one of them happen to be a 15 year old girl. When she hears he is sick, she decides to check on him and chaos ensues after that. Dr. Strange stuck my disclaimer in a pocket dimension...
1. Prologue

Dr. Strange's Apprentice

It was around eleven in the morning when Nalini's mother handed her a letter that was addressed to her daughter. It was from a friend who lived across town, the letter read:

Dear Nalini,

I live down the street from a Mr. Stephen Strange now. He is very sick and doesn't like to deal with or talk to anyone, especially kids. It's kinda Strange, like his name.

Your Friend,

Katie

'Stephen Strange, huh? Why does that name sound familiar,' Nalini thought, sitting on the railing of the balcony.

She hadn't thought about him since last year, when she moved. Dr. Strange was one of her closest friends and he taught her so much about magic. It was a shame she hadn't contacted him since then. Nalini went inside and sat at her desk, pulling a piece of paper from the top left hand drawer of the desk and grabbing a pen from the cup on the top shelf. The letter read:

Dear Dr. Strange,

I'm so sorry about not contacting you before now. I heard you were sick. Are you alright? Do I need to come back?

Your Magical Student,

Nalini felt better the next day and the day after that, she got a letter in reply. The letter read:

Dear Nalini,

I have been sick, just a cold though. Butterflies can see red, green, and yellow. You don't have to come back. Butterflies have exoskeletons. Nice hearing from you again.

Your Magical Teacher,

Dr. Stephen Strange


	2. Chapter 2

He's not able to stay on topic, when he's usually perfectly capable of doing such. He's worse off than he wants Nalini to believe. She decides there is only one thing to do, go check on him. She was going to stay at her friend's house while her parents went to some race, but she figured that she'd better go check in on Dr. Strange first.

"Mom, is it alright that I go visit Dr. Strange today," Nalini asked.

"Sure it is sweetheart," her mother responded.

Nalini grabbed a book bag of clothes and headed out the door to catch a bus that would take her across town to her best friend's house. She then makes her way to the house down the street. To the untrained eye, the house looked as if it were about to collapse and it needed repair, but Nalini knew better. She walks up the steps and knocks on the door. Nalini spends a few moments waiting. Suddenly the door opened and she was greeted by Dr. Strange.

"Hello Nalini," Dr. Strange manages to say before collapsing.

Nalini steps around to his side and picks him up, she'd have the time to panic later. She carried him to his room being careful as to not bump any of the artifacts lining the halls. She entered the bedroom, gently setting Dr. Strange on the bed. Nalini placed hand on the man's forehead to check for a fever, which was present. Nalini turned and went into the bathroom. She wet a washcloth and returned, placing the cool cloth on Stephen's forehead.

Nalini turned and walked out of the room, pulling her cellphone from her back pocket and dialing her mom's number.

"Hello," Her mother said.

"Hey mom, Dr. Strange is really sick and needs me to be here. Can I stay," Nalini asked.

"Yeah, you can stay, but check in often," her mother responded.

"Alright mom, I promise, bye," she said.

Nalini shoved the phone back into her pocket before re-entering the room she walked over to the bed and flipped the cloth over. He opened his eyes and scrambled to get away, trying to climb the wall on the opposite side of the room. Nalini bravely, but cautiously moved closer.

"It's alright Dr. Strange, calm down," she said.

"Nalini, is that you," Dr. Strange asked.

Stephen stopped trying to climb the wall and slumped down to the floor. Nalini moved closer and kneeled down in front of him so that she was eye-level with him, but he looked down. Nalini held out her hand and Dr. Strange took it, she stood, pulling the man to his feet, supporting his weight, she walked him over to the bed and after he laid down, she tugged the blanket up to his chin.

"Take your temperature," Nalini said, handing her teacher a thermometer.

Stephen did as told, knowing that he should anyways. Once the thermometer beeped, he allowed Nalini to read off how bad of a fever he had. Nalini disappeared into the bathroom and then returned with three Advil and a glass of water, handing the objects to Dr. Strange.

"I would tell you that it helps with the fever, but I'm sure you already know that," Nalini said.

He took the medicine and sat up before swallowing the pills. Nalini smiled thoughtfully, placing the washcloth on the bedside table.

"So, how have things been for you," Nalini asked.

"Well, I've been worse," Dr. Strange admitted.

"I also know you've fought worse things than the common cold gone wrong," Nalini smiled.

"That I have, kiddo. That I have," Dr. Strange laughed.

His sense of humor was returning to him as the meds kicked in and his fever lowered. Nalini recalled some of the fondest memories of prank wars she had with the Sorcerer Surpremem. Prank wars were often eventful and on most occasions resulted in her loosing, especially since his pranks were often elaborate.

"You know, you're one of the few people that have seen me like this, and that's saying a great deal," Dr. Strange said.

"What are you saying," Nalini asked.

"I'm sure you already know what I mean by that," Stephen said, rustling the girl's hair.

"Feeling better," Nalini asked, laughing a bit.

"A friend being here helps a little," Dr. Strange said.

"I'm just your student though," Nalini responded.

"You're more of a friend I've had in a while," Stephen said.

Nalini smiled, she hadn't had a moment like this since she moved away last fall. They were seeming to be happy, some color returning to Stephen's face. Suddenly, Nalini's phone rang, it was all numbers and she stared at the screen for a few seconds.

"I'm sorry Dr. Strange, I have to take this call," Nalini said.

Dr. Strange nodded and Nalini stepped out of the room to take the call.

"Hello," Nalini said quietly.

"Is this Nalini Winchester," a woman asked.

"Yes, this is her," Nalini answered.

"I'm calling about your parents. They were in a car accident and they didn't make it, I'm sorry," the woman responded.

"No! They can't be," Nalini yelled into the phone.

By that time, tears were streaming down her face and she was on her knees. Stephen heard the yells, and getting concerned walked out of his room, before kneeling down next to the crying girl.

"Nalini, what's wrong? Are you okay," Dr. Strange asked.

"My parents are dead and I have to go," Nalini said, getting up to run.

Stephen put a hand on her shoulder, eventually pulling her in front of him. When she resisted, he knelt down to look her in the eyes.

"Listen, Nalini, you don't have to go through this alone. I can help you through this," Stephen said.

"What would you know," Nalini snapped, but then she caught herself," Oh, I'm sorry, I'm so, so, sorry."

Her knees gave out, and she fell forwards, her arms coming to rest around Stephen's shoulders. The sudden action startled Stephen so much so that he couldn't find anything to say.

"Don't cry, everything will be okay," Stephen said.

Nalini pulled away, wiping her face and looked straight into Stephen's eyes.

"They want me to move to somewhere in Philadelphia," Nalini said.

"Then you'll go, but first let me put my phone number in your phone. You can call me for anything even just to talk. When the time comes, I will call you with special instructions," Stephen said.

Nalini nodded and handed Stephen her cell phone. Strange was still sick, but he saw something special in her that wasn't present in other kids. He tapped his number in to the phone and handed it back to her. A car pulled up outsided and someone knocked on the door.

Dr. Strange walked her to the door before she left, Stephen handed her a piece of paper.

"When the time comes, this will lead you where you need to go," Dr. Strange said.

"I promise to contact you often," Nalini said.

"I know you will and do me a favor and don't quit believing in magic," Strange responded.

He watched as the car pulled away from the house and stayed until it was out of sight.


	3. Chapter 3

Dr. Strange waited for the person who was to get her with Nalini on the front steps. Nalini was scared, Dr. Strange had an arm around her shoulders as if reassuring her that everything would be okay. A dark haired man walked up to them.

"Nalini Winchester, come with me," the man said.

Nalini looked up at Dr. Strange.

"It's alright, I'm on speed dial when you want to talk," Dr. Strange said.

"Alright, I'll call you later," Nalini responded.

Dr. Strange gave her a hug before the dark haired man left with her. Nalini stared out of the car window and in about 3 hours they arrived in Philadelphia. The car pulled up to a large house, about 2 stories tall. Something was off about this place, there was no magic, but Nalini held firm to the belief that there was magic in every place, but this place simply had none to be found. She was led into a large room and a woman dressed in a white dress was standing in front of her.

"We're going out, scrub every part of the floor before we get back at Midnight," the woman said and then she and the dark haired man left.

Nalini quickly got to work, hoping that this was only temporary. She slept in the attic, climbing out to sit on the roof top around ten that night. She held her phone in her hand, desperately wanting to contact Dr. Strange, but she didn't.

Little did she know that Dr. Strange was worried about her more than she could ever think about. The next morning, he contacted lawyer Mathew Murdock and set up a meeting with him for noon. His phone rang around 11:30AM.

"Hello," he answered.

"Dr. Strange," Nalini said excitedly.

"How are you? Are you alright," Dr. Strange asked, his voice full of concern.

"I'm tired, other than that, no harm done, they hate me here. There's no magic," Nalini explained.

"I'm going to do everything I can to get you out of there, okay. Just hang in there a few more days," Dr. Strange responded.

"Alright, can do," Nalini said.

Dr. Strange hung up the phone and headed out to his meeting with Mathew Murdock. He arrived there precisely at noon.

"Hello Dr. Strange," Mathew said.

"Hello Mathew," Dr. Strange responded.

Mathew led Dr. Strange into an office filled with stuff. Dr. Strange sat down in a chair in front of the desk.

"Tell me why you came," Mathew said, sounding professional.

"There's a girl, she lost her parents yesterday and then was drug off to Philadelphia and I'm worried about her. I spoke to her over the phone before coming here, she sounded like she was scared," Dr. Strange said quickly.

"Hold on, you let somebody drag your youngest student to Philadelphia without a fight? Alright, I'll help you," Matt responded.

"She's scared and I just want her back this way so I know she's safe," Dr. Strange said.

"I can talk to some people and I'll see what I can do," Matt responded.

"What," Dr. Strange asked.

"Later if you want something more before they take her, then come see me," Matt responded.

"Alright, I will," Dr. Strange responded.

"Alright, I'll talk to my secretary," Matt said, getting up to leave the room.

The secretary made a few phone calls and came back with an arm full of papers, setting them on the desk before Dr. Strange and pointing out where he should sign. Dr. Strange followed orders. He left with a copy of the adoption papers and time to kill. He fished out the phone from his pocket and dialed Nalini's number.

"Hello," she answered.

"Nalini, I have some good news for you, but we have to meet though," Dr. Strange responded.

"Alright, they're not letting me out, but I can go down a fire escape," Nalini responded quietly.

"Okay, I'll be there around 6, sneak down there and come find me," Dr. Strange said.

"Okay, I promise," Nalini said.

Around 6, Nalini climbed down the fire escape of the building next to the house and made her way down the street, looking for Dr. Strange. Suddenly someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned to see Dr. Strange standing behind her.

"Hey, what's the news you said was so important I needed to sneak out to get," Nalini smiled.

"I'm getting you out of here," Dr. Strange responded.

Nalini looked shocked, only having known the information for about 2 minutes. Dr. Strange stepped back, giving her a hopeful look.

"Really," Nalini said, energy returning to her eyes.

"Yes, I have the paperwork saying that I'm your caretaker," Dr. Strange said.

Nalini looked surprised even more. She wasn't sure about it, but was grateful that Dr. Strange was willing to take her in like that.

"Thank you so much," Nalini said.

"Are those people home," Dr. Strange asked.

"Yes, they're home, but they can't know that I snuck out," Nalini said.

"Okay," Dr. Strange said, watching Nalini duck into an alley way and make her way back to the house.

She climbed up the same fire escape and back through the window that she snuck out of that evening. Several minutes later there was a knock on the door downstairs, the blonde haired woman answered the phone.

"What do you want," she asked.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Stephen Strange and I'm here to inform you that I will be taking the girl you received a few days ago into my home as I am now her legal caretaker until further notice," Dr. Strange said, producing the legal papers from his jacket pocket.

The woman nodded and her husband jogged up the stairs, to the room Nalini had been staying in for the past 3 days. He came back down the stairs, dragging her by the arm. She was held back to stand between the two people. Dr. Strange gave her a subtle nod as if he were looking down at her before they shoved her towards him. He took her by the hand and walked down the steps with her before making his way across the street.

"Are you alright Nalini," Dr. Strange asked.

"I'm fine, it's just," Nalini began, pulling up the sleeve to her shirt.

Dr. Strange's eyes widened at the sight of the purple bruise that had appeared on her arm.

"You're safe now," Dr. Strange assured her.

"I trust you," Nalini rersponded.

They continued walking for a while until they reached the car Dr. Strange had borrowed from one of his old co-workers. She was happy that she was going to a place that held some type of magic, some that she was more than familiar with.

"I'm sorry I waited so long, I just had to do this legally, for your sake. I told you that I wasn't going to let you go through this alone," Dr. Strange said, putting an arm around her.

Nalini leaned against Dr. Strange and they stayed like that for a while.

"We're going to get you enrolled in the same school you used to go to, and I'm going to keep you as long as it takes for me to figure out what will happen from then," Dr. Strange said.

"Okay, thanks for getting me out of there," Nalini said.

They got into the car and arrived back in New York a few hours later. Dr. Strange led her into the house. She discovered that she had left her clothes there.

"We'll go to the school tomorrow to get you enrolled, but for tonight, it's late, let's get some rest," Dr. Strange smiled.

"Alright," Nalini responded.

"You're in the next room from mine," Dr. Strange said, knowing that she knew very well where to go.

"Okay," Nalini responded, making her way towards the room.

Dr. Strange followed closely behind her. She walked into the room, noticing that it was set up already. The clothes she had left behind were hung up in the closet, her teddy bear was sitting on the end of the bed, her extra set of shoes under the edge of the bed. Nalini looked surprised.

"Thank you," she said.

"We'll go get the rest of your things tomorrow and I'll help you set the room up however you'd like," Dr. Strange responded.

"Alright," Nalini responded, smiling.

The room was amazing even without the rest of her things. She felt like she could relax because as unfamiliar as the environment was, there was magic here.

"Good night, Nalini," Dr. Strange said.

"Good night," Nalini responded.


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning at seven, Nalini was woken by a knock on the door of the room she was in. She didn't really remember the events of the past few days, and in all honesty, preferred not to know.

"Nalini, time to get up kiddo," a voice called out from behind the door.

"I'm coming," Nalini responded, recognizing the voice.

She got out of the bed and straightened the blanket before pulling on her shoes and she walked out the door a few minutes later.

"Good morning, Dr. Strange," she smiled.

"Ready to go," Dr. Strange asked.

"Yeah, ready as I'll ever be," Nalini responded, running her fingers through her hair.

She followed Dr. Strange out to the car, giving him directions to the house across town. They got out and she unlocked the door, pushing it open. The electricity had been shut off as well as the water and other such commodities. She walked through the house, looking at what she could take with her. There was a lot that she wanted to take, and she had a few boxes for her own stuff, and about two for whatever else she wanted to take with her. She settled for grabbing mostly small things, but taking a few larger things too. They left the house about an hour and a half later and arrived back at Dr. Strange's place thirty minutes after that. They quickly brought the boxes into Nalini's room and set them down. Dr. Strange noticed that it was time for the meeting with the school.

Dr. Strange was greeted by the principal and taken into the office while Nalini was taken off by a teacher to be shown around the campus.

"Alright, is she your daughter," the principal asked.

"No sir, she is not my daughter," Dr. Strange responded.

"She can't attend this school unless you are her father," the principal said.

"I think of her as my daughter," Dr. Strange said.

"That's not enough, she has to legally be your daughter for you to enroll her in any school," the principal explained.

"Alright, well, I'll be back tomorrow and I'll have talked with my lawyer," Dr. Strange said.

Nalini stood by the office door, waiting patiently for Dr. Strange to finish his meeting with the principal. He finally came out of the room and grabbed her hand.

"Come on kiddo, looks like I'm going to have to adopt you," Dr. Strange said, pulling out his cell phone.

Nalini's jaw dropped practically to the ground.

"Are you sure you want to," Nalini asked.

"Yes, I want to adopt you. Nalini, I already think of you more than just a student, I think of you as my daughter anyways," Dr. Strange responded.

"Really," Nalini asked, a bit shocked.

"Yes, I think of you as a daughter more than a student," Dr. Strange responded.

Thinking back before, she remembered just how close she had been to Dr. Strange and how much she wanted to know what he did. Back when hanging out with him was more than enough to make her day. Dr. Strange pulled out his cell phone and dialed Matt Murdock's number again.

"Hello," the man answered the phone.

"Hey, Mathew, are you free this evening," Dr. Strange said as he got in the driver's seat.

"Please, call me Matt and yes I can meet with you," Mathew Murdock responded.

"Great, I'll be there in about twenty minutes," Dr. Strange responded.

"Alright, I'll be here," Matt said.

Dr. Strange pulled the car out onto the street and left towards Matt's office. They got there some 35 minutes later. Dr. Strange got out of the car first, Nalini following the action pretty quickly. They entered the building and was greeted by Matt.

"Good evening, Matt," Dr. Strange said.

"Hello, is there someone else here," Matt asked.

"Yes, Matt, this is my apprentice, Nalini," Dr. Strange responded.

"Hello there Nalini," Matt smiled, holding out his hand for the girl to shake.

"Nice to meet you, sir," Nalini responded, shaking his hand.

Nalini returned to her position, standing beside Dr. Strange. He smiled down at the girl as she fell silent.

"Alright, down to business, what was so important that you had to meet with me right away," Matt asked.

"I'm going to adopt her," Dr. Strange responded.

"What, I thought you didn't want to adopt her right away," Matt remarked.

"We both know I was going to do so eventually," Dr. Strange said.

"You're right on that one, I did know you were going to adopt her eventually, so let's get on with the paperwork," Matt responded.

Dr. Strange turned to Nalini and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Stay out here while I go and sign some papers," Dr. Strange said.

"Yes sir," Nalini responded, walking across the room and sitting down in a chair.

Dr. Strange flashed a smile before following Matt into his office. The secretary gave them the paperwork and then walked back out into the lobby, eyeing the girl suspiciously. Nalini shifted uncomfortably in the seat. Several minutes later, Dr. Strange and Matt entered the room again. Nalini stood from her seat in the corner and walked over to Dr. Strange.

"Alright, the paperwork is done," Matt said.

"Okay, then she's legally my daughter," Dr. Strange asked.

"Yeah, she's your daughter," Matt responded.

Nalini stood back several feet away from the two and waited for Dr. Strange to turn and address her. Dr. Strange turned and waved for her to move closer and she followed orders.

"You shouldn't have to hesitate before coming up to talk to me," Dr. Strange said to the girl.

"Something my parents always told me to do," Nalini responded.

"Don't hesitate to jump into a conversation if you have something to say," Dr. Strange said.

"Okay then I think that secretary is out to get me," Nalini responded.

"Thank you Matt," Dr. Strange smiled as he walked towards the door.

Nalini followed closely behind him, getting in the car. The day continued on and Dr. Strange got her enrolled in school and they got the room for her to stay in set up.


End file.
